“I can’t understand it. I can’t even understand the people who CAN understand it.” –Queen Juliana

To no one’s surprise, I’m confused again. I’ve read the US Constitution a few times, but apparently without comprehending much of it. Especially that First Amendment bit.

block quote
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
block quote end

It still sounds simple enough. But it must not be simple, or we wouldn’t keep having court cases involving what it does or does not really mean. Like the bible or Bob Dylan, interpretations seem almost infinite. Who knew corporations were not only people, but people with religious convictions, and people with political opinions, until the Supreme Court told us so? Of course, at times the Supreme Court has also told us that certain Americans — regular flesh-and-blood type people — have no rights. Until they told us something different.

Someday, maybe our judicial system will discover that predatory bankers and war-profiteering corporations pose more of a clear and present danger to the nation than a few nuns and grandmothers peacefully protesting injustice seem to represent now. The sooner the better.

++++++++++++++++
Mommy, Why Was Grandma Jailed For Protesting Drones?
Crooks and Liars * July 17, 2014 5:00 am –
By karoli
Well, dear, it seems drone masters don’t appreciate hearing, seeing or allowing protests from citizens who foot the bill.
Evidently if you’re protesting random drone killings of brown people you’re a criminal. If, on the other hand, you’re protesting brown people coming to seek refuge from crime and murder in their own country, you’re a hero.
Today’s story is about an ordinary citizen who objects to drones wiping out swaths of civilians on their way to deliver judgment on terrorists, whether right or wrong. Mary Anne Grady Flores has been protesting drones at the Hancock Field Air National Guard base in upstate New York for long enough to have been arrested, acquitted and then served with an order of protection to “stay away” from protests near the base.
So she decided to take photographs of other people protesting while standing on a street that she thought was off the base property itself. The folks she photographed were arrested and acquitted, but Mary Anne, grandmother and decent human being, was slapped with a one-year jail sentence and a $1,000 fine. What finer justice, eh?
Democracy Now:
Last year, Grady Flores says she attended another peace action, but did not participate, instead photographing it from the roadway, beyond what she believed was the base’s boundary. She was later told the base’s property extended into the road. On Thursday, Judge David Gideon of the DeWitt Town Court sentenced her to the maximum sentence of a year in prison for violating the protection order and fined her $1,000. In a courtroom packed with about 150 supporters, Grady Flores spoke about what she called the four perversions of justice in her case.
Mary Anne Grady Flores: “The fourth perversion is the reversal of who is the real victim here: the commander of a military base involved in killing innocent people halfway around the world or those innocent people themselves, who are the real ones in need of orders of protection? So I, as a nonviolent grandmother and a caregiver to my own mother, as I prepare for jail, itself a perversion, I stand before you remorseful. I’m remorseful about my own country and its continued perpetuating of violence and injustice.”
Mary Anne Grady Flores was taken into custody following the sentencing. She is appealing the verdict. Earlier in the day, her supporters marched six miles from the drone base to the courtroom carrying a coffin bearing the words, “First Amendment.”
Protective orders are intended for domestic violence issues, not citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. The only domestic violence involved here is the violence meted out every time our country uses drones to kill people.
How is it that protesting drone strikes is a crime but protesting kids in need of shelter and asylum is somehow noble?
Our priorities are seriously screwed up. Perhaps Ms. Grady Flores should press her case to the United States Supreme Court and argue that her sincere beliefs are just as valid and more factually sound than Hobby Lobby’s are.
You can read more about Mary Anne Grady Flores and her case at Upstate Drone Action.http://www.upstatedroneaction.org/http://crooksandliars.com/2014/07/mommy-why-was-grandma-jailed-protesting

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About l. l. frederick

I'm pretty ordinary, so I find any number of things in the world interesting, among them: books, music, flowers, food, social justice, politics and (sometimes!) people. As for my writing, I've decided that I can be subtle and tasteful when our only problems are esthetic ones. Or when I'm dead, whichever comes first. In the meantime, read at your own risk.

Obama has had plenty of help trashing the Constitution, but he’s done his part, latest of a long line of “leaders” herding us into the chutes. And it could be they won’t risk quartering troops with us, lest even their comprehensive indoctrination might slip, with soldiers coming to identify with us natives. Thanks as always for commenting. – Linda